The Honest Truth About Being Married and Dating Other People | Ep. 171

About this episode

Natalie Davis discusses her experiences with polyamory and how it has shaped her marriage and relationships.

In this episode, I'm talking with Natalie Davis — former DOJ trial lawyer, polyamory advocate, and author of Saying Yes: My Adventures in Polyamory — about what it actually looks like to build a life that doesn't follow the relationship script most of us were handed. Natalie has been with her husband since they were teenagers. They have an adult son. And over the past two decades, they've navigated swinging, open relationships, and fully polyamorous partnerships — together and separately. Today, she lives in a home with her husband and his long-term girlfriend, her metamour, while also dating outside the house. It works. And she's here to explain exactly how. We talk about the moment her husband first suggested opening their marriage, why her initial reaction was a hard no, and how she moved through fear and structure-loving resistance into something that genuinely expanded her world. She breaks down the differences between swinging, open relationships, and polyamory, shares what jealousy actually looks like when it shows up (and when it doesn't), and explains the safer sex elevator speech that everyone — monogamous or not — should be using. We also get into the real stuff: how…

People in this episode

Host: Karen Bigman

Guest: Natalie Davis

Topics covered

• polyamory
• open relationships
• marriage
• dating
• jealousy
• non-monogamy

Keywords

• polyamory
• open relationships
• swinging
• jealousy
• non-monogamous
• marriage
• dating

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Department of Justice

Books & works: Saying Yes: My Adventures in Polyamory

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